The specter of hunger threatens millions in Sudan due to the war in Ukraine

The specter of starvation threatens millions of Sudanese in light of the economic turmoil, high prices and poor harvests due to the scarcity of rain, in addition to the war in Ukraine and the decline of foreign support.

Rising levels of hunger, predicted by UN agencies, are raising fears of increasing instability in a country facing increasing conflict and poverty after last year's military coup.

Sudan has been in an economic crisis since before the overthrow of former President Omar al-Bashir in the 2019 uprising.

The transitional government had received billions of dollars in international support, but that was suspended after the coup, which put Sudan on the brink of economic collapse.

Currency devaluations and subsidy reforms pushed up prices, and inflation reached over 250%.

In the capital, Khartoum, the price of a small loaf of bread increased from 2 Sudanese pounds two years ago to about 50 pounds ($0.11).

Sudan imports about 87% of its wheat consumption from Russia and Ukraine, according to Food and Agriculture Organization data, making it one of the Arab countries worst affected by the war in Ukraine.

"If the price of this small piece of bread was fifty pounds, what would our life be like?" Hajj Ahmed told Reuters.

According to World Bank estimates in 2021, 56 percent of Sudan's 44 million people lived on less than $3.20, or about 2,000 Sudanese pounds, a day, up from 43 percent in 2009.

Last week, the World Food Program estimated that the number of people with levels of hunger that would force them to sell basic assets, or who would have no more to sell, would double by September to 18 million.

Aid agencies have long worked to help the rural poor and people displaced by the war in Sudan.

In 2019, the World Food Program expanded its operations to urban centers for the first time.

"This jump didn't happen yesterday or two months ago, it's backlogs," said Marianne Ward, deputy director of the World Food Programme.

"This collapse is no longer driven solely by conflict, but is also related to structural issues such as inflation and the availability of foreign currency," she added.

Experts say that inflation is making farmers unable to afford agricultural inputs such as seeds, fertilizer and fuel, in addition to the growing disturbances in some important agricultural areas, and the scarcity of rain in some places and heavy rainfall in others.

Over the past five years, production of sorghum, millet and wheat crops has fallen by 30% from what it was on average, according to estimates by the Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Food Program.

United Nations bodies expect Sudan to face a shortage of maize, which is usually one of the country's staple grains, for the first time since the droughts that ravaged the region in the 1980s.

One trader said prices had doubled in the past four months.

The ministries of finance and agriculture did not respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The Fund and the World Bank had frozen billions of dollars, part of which was earmarked for subsidizing agriculture, due to the military coup last October.

Direct humanitarian assistance continues, but the US Agency for International Development and the World Food Program have suspended programs that were intended to support a transitional civilian government by covering about a quarter of wheat consumption last year.

The WFP says its food stocks in Sudan will run out by May in the absence of new funding.

Life in Khartoum and other cities is paralyzed by frequent anti-military protests, often fueled by economic troubles.

"The burden of all this political chaos falls on the citizen," said Gareebullah Dafaallah, an agricultural engineer.

"People were ashamed to say they were hungry, but now it is clear," he added.

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